After a three-decades-long (albeit not very storied) relationship with the NY Daily News, the email said it all. “So you know, we’re not paying for op-eds at this time.”
The editor (or his predecessor) of that editorial page has printed and paid for my opinion on over a dozen occasions in the past 3 years. But lately, he’s been ghosting me when I submitted. Because professional writers (assuming I’m one) understand that we’re not supposed to send anything to more than one outlet at a time, it’s general procedure for editors to reject us quickly so we can move on. Not “passing” in a few hours is a sure sign of disrespect I chose to ignore for the past few months to the point where he had to respond. Kind of shitty timing if you ask me given the time of year.